Forum - View topicBest First Episode Tournament: Post-Mortem
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Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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Group D-5
Fruits Basket vs. The Irresponsible Captain Tylor Viewing History: own both and have been through each twice. I am flabbergasted on Irresponsible Captain Tylor showing. Did anyone watch these two?. That first episode of Tylor is not that great. If it was the OVA's then yes, but there is no way the first episode holds a candle to Fruits Basket, which to its detriment is a minimally animated rehash of the first manga. It still made me cry though, while Tylor just annoyed me. Vote for: Fruits Basket Group D-6 Mawaru Penguindrum vs. Macross Frontier First time on each. I have to lean toward Penguindrum. Frontier was kinda entertaining, but I feel "getting it" comes much later. Vote for: Mawaru Penguindrum Group D-7 Ouran High School Host Club vs. Kimi ni Todoke – From Me To You Own both, holding off on Kimi ni Todoke to marathon it. Sawako is so much cuter in the 1st episode compared to the manga. She is adorable. Haruhi is also adorable, and this is a tough call. Leaning toward Kimi ni Todoke for being a little different from what the manga led me to expect. Vote for: Kimi ni Todoke Group D-8 Moribito – Guardian of the Spirit vs. Claymore Viewing History: Own and have seen both twice. Vote for: Moribito I almost decided to skip revisiting Claymore, because Moribito is so good. Claymore 's first is very good, but holds no candle to Moribito. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Group D-5
Fruits Basket vs. The Irresponsible Captain Tylor Vote for: Fruits Basket: Great comedy, characters and setup. Not remembering Tylor very well but really the whole premise of Fruits Basket is encapsulated in that hilarious first episode and it was handled beautifully and eloquently all the same. Group D-6 Mawaru Penguindrum vs. Macross Frontier First time on each. Vote for: Mawaru Penguindrum: Sorry not too keen on previewing either, actually I'm voting very last minute-ish here due to being very busy with stuff this week. By the comments in the summary, and positive remarks elsewhere in the forum, Mawaru seems cute, funny, unique and worthy of winning this round. Group D-7 Ouran High School Host Club vs. Kimi ni Todoke – From Me To You Vote for: Ouran Host Club: What a great first episode, this is one of my tournament faves. I loved the surreal reactions filled with innuendo of each of the Club members once they discovered Haruhi's biological identity. This is how true classics of anime are made, I also love the clean style of animation in this series and attractive production values. Group D-8 Moribito – Guardian of the Spirit vs. Claymore Vote for: Claymore: I just could not bear to see Moribito get away with a flawless victory against Claymore. Yes I love Moribito, it is a fantastic series but something about Claymore's first episode just grabbed my heart: Mostly the huge sympathy I had for the boy who had to endure such a horrible fate and found a shimmer of hope in this woman who claimed to have no duty or sympathy herself for the weak and defenseless; only operating by the rules of her kind. Also I found Claire's situation more intriguing than Balsa's: Balsa got involved with her client more by accident and kind of had to warm up to him while reluctantly adjusting the status-quo of her arrangements. In Claire's case, her client approached her despite great odds stacked against him. I think that is a more powerful telling of the strength of the human spirit that resides within Claire's humanity that overcomes the monsterous nature that resides within human beings. Up against such a strong contender the first round I'm not ashamed to admit Claymore was my TOURNAMENT WINNER pick. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18454 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Round 1 is now closed.
A couple of regulars were MIA this time around, so we only had 15 votes. The results: D-5: Fruits Basket comes from behind to edge Irresponsible Captain Tylor, 8-7. D-6: Mawaru Penguindrum beats Macross Frontier, 11-4. D-7: Ouran High School Host Club slams Kimi ni Todoke, 11-4. D-8: Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit goes Awakened Being on Claymore, 14-1. FB was losing earlier in the day but surged back to just barely take the lead as the evening wore on. The results of M6 suggest to me that people are rating originality higher than execution, but whatever. I am much more surprised that OHSHC not only won but won handily in D-7; apparently people are far less impressed with KnT's opener than what I remembered. Anyway, Round 2 will be up shortly. There may be a change or two to our original plans for it. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18454 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Round 2 Group A is now closed.
Results can be found here. I know we originally planned to do this differently, but I have been thinking a lot about the flow of this tournament over the past few weeks and decided that four pair-ups seems to be the right number per week for this tournament. To that end I am reverting to doing each Group separately this round. To partly make up for that all of the Group finals will be held on the same week. Group A-9 Eden of the East vs. Bakemonogatari Group A-10 His and Her Circumstances (aka Kare Kano) vs. Azumanga Daioh Group A-11 FLCL vs. Time of Eve Group A-12 Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion vs. Rurouni Kenshin Trust and Betrayal OVA Last edited by Key on Tue May 29, 2012 12:02 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3966 Location: New York state. |
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Match A-9: Eden of the East
While both titles wow in different ways with the visuals to their opening episodes, Eden of the East is more accessible and engaging with the mysteries surrounding Akira and the beginning of Saki's involvement with him. Match A-10: His and Her Circumstances While both opening episodes deliver great comedy coming from their characters, I have to give the edge to Kare Kano as the series provides more depth with Yukino's character in said episode. Match A-11: Time of Eve A toughie to pick from here as both first episodes to FLCL and Time of Eve were very engaging for differing reasons and left me with wanting to see more from them. But I think I'll stick with Time of Eve for having a more down-to-earth approach in the introduction of its premise and better quality visual presentation to boot. Match A-12: Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal The easiest choice for me to make in this bracket. Code Geass' opening episode is mostly focused on setting up Lelouch with gaining his Geass and dropping hints with appearances from later prominent characters in the series. Trust and Betrayal's opening episode goes quite a bit in-depth with looking into Kenshin's character before meeting Tomoe showing his tragic past and the hardened young man he became since becoming an assassin. This, combined with the beautifully animated yet brutal action scenes, gives Trust and Betrayal a strong start in its run. |
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Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
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I don't think so. Firstly, because Mawaru Penguindrum is both innovative and well-executed, while Macross Frontier is only well-executed. Secondly, if originality were favoured, Serial Experiment Lain would have won with Time of Eve and Kaiba would have won with Kurau Phantom Memory . It seems to me that what is favoured is the emotional impact that the first episode makes. In other words, the easier is to connect with the characters of a show, the greater chance that this show will win. I think that explains why series such as Time of Eve won despite being less original and why Mawaru Penguindrum didn't lose. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Group A-9
Voting for: Eden of the East While I did vote for Bakemonogatari in the previous round, it was only because the competition was a show I found particularily lacking. None of the arguments made back then were particularly compelling for me and given that Eden of the East is one of the strongest contenders IMO, I don't see any particular reason to vote against it now. Group A-10 Voting for: His and Her Circumstances (aka Kare Kano) I still don't think Azumanga Daioh's opening is particularly noteworthy and so I'm still not going to vote for it, especially not when it is up against a contender who sounds like a solid entry in the tournament. Group A-11 Voting for: Time of Eve I still don't particular feel like this is a that great an entry here. To touch on what Aylinn said about emotional impact, I really didn't get much of any with the first episode of Time of Eve (or most of the rest of the series for that matter). However, I will not vote for FLCL under any circumstances so this is what I'm left with. After a few votes that are really mixed with general apathy, it's nice to have this next pairing since I do feel like both episodes are (probably) strong and worthy contenders. Group A-12 Voting for: Rurouni Kenshin Trust and Betrayal OVA I did manage to get this episode ready to watch when it was up for voting before but never found time. I'm going to make sure I change this since RL has calmed down a bit more. But based on what has been said about this entry, I do think it seems stronger than Code Geass, even though I did really enjoy the opening of that one. But this vote is definitely not 100% set at the moment, in case it turns out that I hate the Kenshin OVA (though I have to say I would be quite surprised if that was the case). |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18454 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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All right, you've got a point there. I don't remember finding MP to be all that emotional, though, so I guess that's what's throwing me. My votes will come much later this week because this time I'm actually going to watch ToE and the Kenshin OVA. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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Minigame results.
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6584 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Group A-9
Eden of the East vs. Bakemonogatari I'm not all that fussed about which episode wins here. After watching them again I'm voting for Eden of the East mainly because Bakemonogatori has more elements that irritate me: the high school setting; the pandering (we get a lingering view of a girl's crotch before we see her face) and the formulaic character personalities. Bakemonogatori's distinctive visual style isn't enough to make amends while its intriguing premise is matched by Eden of the East's. Group A-10 His and Her Circumstances (aka Kare Kano) vs. Azumanga Daioh Like the previous pairing I wasn't sure which way I'd vote but re-watching the episodes made my choice clear. His and Her Circumstances is funnier, cleverer and sharper. I was laughing out loud (for a comedy that's pretty good second time around) whereas Azumangah Daioh merely had me chuckling. Coincidence: I ate okonomiyaki for the first time last Sunday. Group A-11 FLCL vs. Time of Eve An easy one. FLCL is a dog's breakfast that never properly coheres. It has so many riches that are thrown about in such a profligate manner that it ultimately disappoints and frustrates. Time of Eve is economical, perceptive and exquisitely put together. And, for all the visual pyrotechnics of FLCL, Time of Eve is actually a greater pleasure for the eye. Group A-12 Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion vs. Rurouni Kenshin Trust and Betrayal OVA Another easy one. I voted for Code Geass last time because its opposition was so weak. Not so, this time. Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal took a shonen manga and TV series and transformed the franchise into something unexpected. The frequent and bloody violence is treated in a thoughtful, mature manner unusual in anime, which cannot be said for the first episode of Code Geass. |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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Group A-9
Eden of the East vs. Bakemonogatari These two are pretty different so it is hard to compare them, but Eden of the East gets my vote. Bakemonogatari is very interesting in that its premise is pretty cliche supernatural mystery, yet the execution is so unique I didn't even notice that the first time I saw this. Senjougahara is a powerhouse character, but the rest of the episode is deeply psychological in what seemed to me to be a pretentious degree. Not to mention the banter between the characters has never really worked for me. Eden of the East does one of my favorite things a show can do; it has a good balance of comedy, seriousness and mystery all in the first episode. One of the things I love about this first episode is Akira's unknown identity. The evidence in his apartment suggests terrorist, assassin, or some kind of black market dealer, yet his personality suggests otherwise. And the missile attack reported at the very end hooked me the first time I saw this. Group A-10 His and Her Circumstances (aka Kare Kano) vs. Azumanga Daioh Just watched the first episode of His and Her Circumstances and wow is it funny! And different from the usual type of anime funny too; it is very clever and Yukino's two-facedness is hilarious! The disparity between her outward persona and her internal narration was great. Azumanga Daioh also has a unique sense of humor and both shows have characters that are vain so they are matched there. His and Her really sets itself apart from other romantic comedies when Arima confesses to Yukino! This is the first episode! Thank god, a romance where the whole show isn't used to build up to the confession!!!! It earned big points when it did that. Combine that with the part at the end, when Arima comes to give her a CD and finds out her little secret and I'm decided. His reaction is priceless, but even more than that has me chomping at the bit to watch the next episode. Azumanga Daioh is maybe only a smidge less funny, but the first ep doesn't have me dying to watch the next like His and Her does. Group A-11 FLCL vs. Time of Eve Time of Eve is one of the top contenders in this tournament in my opinion. errinundra said it perfectly:
Group A-12 Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion vs. Rurouni Kenshin Trust and Betrayal OVA Code Geass's first episode does have a lot of set up for later, but it works pretty well by itself too. What I was always appreciative of is how they show a map, showing what territory has been conquered. I wish they'd do that more often in series not set in the regular world. But of course, what stands out the most is the scene at the end. Even knowing what's in store, it's still pretty shocking to see a teenager order people to kill themselves. |
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Tris8
Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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Vote Change in A-10 in favor of His and Her Circumstances.
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Ggultra2764
Subscriber Posts: 3966 Location: New York state. |
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This is only a suggestion Key, but you think it might be a good idea to have a day extension on voting? With Memorial Day today, I imagine people are too caught up in vacations or celebrating the holiday to have time for voting.
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Oh you Americans and your silly holidays
(That said, Victoria Day was last week in Canada so we already had ours). |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18454 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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We'll see how the numbers go as the day progresses; I haven't voted yet, for instance, because I'm still hoping to get around to seeing the two first eps that I haven't seen yet, which I should have time to do this afternoon. If we're really low come midnight I might extend it, but last time I did that we only picked up one or two extra votes.
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